Thursday, May 31, 2007

Went to an SL Netroots wkly mtg. My RL disgust with the Democrats wimpy and ultimately lying and scheming behavior carried over to the SL meeting.

Daily Kos is having some sort of a meeting YKSL -- and I don't get it. I know everything mainstream has a tendency to get me p.o.ed but.... I fail to understand why Yearly Kos is coming to SL and charging $25 U.S. to attend via a stream into SL. Jimbo, spoke to the Netroots group this week about it. No. 1 on my P.O. factor was that most of the time he was initially telling us about it, I thought, "Oh, cool, they want to show SL folks what they do." But the attitude that came through to me was that they were going to show SL folks how to be "Progressive." I am so tired of liberal thinking mainstreamers telling real progressives how to be progressive. I usually bite my tongue, but after this last week on the RL Capitol Hill I simply cannot stand the duplicity of the Democrats nor the "backers" of the party (the people) who should be the party. The DLC is Corporate America. The DNC are predominantly big boys in the Dem Party who want to be the DLC.

We need to revolt. It is our constitutional duty to do. I do not condone violence, but it is time to cut the main parties loose and do something completely different. I'm with Cindy. Screw 'em.

The SL folks who do Netroots are wonderful people, they work their butts off for what they believe in, and Drew has done great stuff for the SL YK thing... but they seem to think Progressive = Democrat. Wrong. Maybe I've got it wrong but I don't think so. I hang out with Anarchists and Communists from time to time and Progressives are the right wing of the Left Wing. Democrats are not Left Wing. Republicans are not Right Wing. Nearly all Democrats and Republicans are neither left nor right wing, but are the chicken in the middle. Buh-gack.

Ok, that is one peeve. The other is the mainstreaming of SL. RW groups come to SL... pay someone (usually) to set up their presence and expect folks to flock to them. SL is the early stage of what I call Artificial Reality. V.R. is a long long way away. An artificial reality that is effectively indistinguishable from reality would be a virtual reality. SL is not VR. There is a real AR culture developing in SL though and "outsiders" who come to SL and want to bring RL to SL are not really "getting" that there is a culture developing here and you have to interact in it to become part of it.

It is fine if YK wants to have a meeting in SL. But charging $25 U.S. to attend. That is a bit rude in SL culture.

I work my virtual butt off (and a cute butt it is) to "make tier" and I don't expect to develop more connections in SL that cost me money. If anything I would like to make contacts that help me spend less money.

About this blog and Second Ana:

Ana Herzog, avatar in the virtual world of Second Life, expounds on the semiotics of identity in the metaverse, alternate realities, feminism, artistic expression and the growing use of SL as a a progressive networking tool.
Second Ana was born into Second Life on July 8th of 2006. Her island, The Womens Center, will officially open on the Autumnal Equinox. She owns Casita Gaia, an Interior Furnishings Boutique in Barcelona del Oeste. She is the local coordinator for CODEPINK SL. CODEPINK SL is an international chapter of CODEPINK Women for Peace. CODEPINK is also represented by our hut hangout on Commonwealth Island where our neighbors include the ACLU and Green Peace.